O’Neil: Seahawks didn’t just lose, they blew it against Washington

This column will be modeled after Seattle’s performance on Sunday.

The first half will be filled with typografical errors, inconsistent Capitalization and random punctuation!

Sentences will get repeated just like the three holding penalties that hampered Seattle’s offense in the first half. Sentences will get repeated just like the three holding penalties that hampered Seattle’s offense in the first half.

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Walsh Blair’s name will be missed. Three times in fact. Because Walsh Blair missed three field goals in the first half, and just when it appeared that Seattle was moving in position to give Walsh Blair another run at things, Russell Wilson took a sack that sucked the next-to-last gasp of breath from Seattle’s final drive before ultimately expiring with a 60-yard heave into the end zone that wound up as incomplete as the rest of Seattle’s performance.

The Seahawks didn’t just lose 17-14 to Washington on Sunday. They absolutely blew it, unable to pull away from a team so banged up that it had only 43 players available. This one was absolutely as ugly as the final score indicated, Seattle earning every ounce of what was a bad loss by just about every measure.

Washington had lost three of four games. They had six starters among the seven players who were declared inactive, and were so banged up that two more starters – Montae Nicholson and Brandon Scherff – were technically active, but did not play.

The Seahawks had won four in a row. They were starting Duane Brown, the trade-deadline acquisition. They were at home.

And yet the Seahawks went out and played the kind of first half that we’ve seen before this season whether it was the season-opener in Green Bay or the unforgettably bad first half that Seattle’s offense played in Week 4 against Indianapolis.

Washington didn’t do much against Seattle for the first three quarters. Then again, Washington didn’t have to because the Seahawks were pretty adamant about sabotaging themselves whether it was through the three field goal attempts that were missed in the first half or the 13 penalties that were called against Seattle in the first three quarters.

Entering the fourth quarter, Washington had gained 128 yards on offense while Seattle had cost itself 108 yards in penalties.

Pretty much one thing went right for Seattle in the first half. A linebacker blitz from Bobby Wagner in which he came untouched and sacked Kirk Cousins in the end zone for a first quarter safety.

The rest of the game was filled with amateur mistooks that made you think their was a lack of coaching. Or proof reading.

The Seahawks got the ball inside the Washington 20 exactly once in the first half. They reached the 14 before promptly committing two penalties and then missing a kick to the left. Of course it was left. Walsh Blair couldn’t do anything right in the first half.

He wasn’t alone in that regard, and just when Seattle got things straightened out on offense in the fourth quarter, it was the defense that wasn’t able to close the door, giving up 70 yards in 39 seconds and watching what would have been an ugly win turn into an absolutely abominable defeat.

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